Luna's Lullaby
by Bagge
Summary: Luna's father reads her a bedtime story


**Luna's Lullaby**

_Luna's father reads her a bedtime story. Characters belong to Rowling._

* * *

_Little Luna Lovegood loved  
To play out in the rain  
She smiled at shiny raindrops, that  
She tried to catch, in vain  
If they reach the ground, my dear,  
They won't get up again _

_In puddles splashed her eager feet  
No longer snug and dry  
Splishy splash, splashy splish  
She wants the drops to fly  
Up and turn to rain again  
When they splash to the sky _

_The puddle opened by her feet  
As strange as strange can be  
Little Luna Lovegood fell  
Down into mystery  
"This is the consequence," she mused  
"Of curiosity" _

_Caverns vast and without end  
That was a wicked sight  
Lit by glowing Tun-Dum bugs  
In glowing Tun-Dum flight  
The girl was seized and stolen 'way  
Struggling as she might _

_Greedy goblin hands held fast  
While goblin feet did run  
Goblin eyes did stare and glare  
And laugh, as were it fun  
"Poor girl," they sneered, "she never will  
Return to see the sun" _

_The goblin king so strong and proud  
Sat on his goblin throne  
With cushions made of human skin  
And frame of human bone  
If sunshine sees this dreary man  
He will turn into stone _

_Poor Little Luna Lovegood was  
Imprisoned by the king  
He kept her in a golden cage  
He wanted her to sing  
All beautiful songs she'd ever heard  
A bird with broken wing _

_Beautiful were Luna's songs  
But she was bleak and sad  
She would stay here for ever, with  
The goblin king, how bad  
She missed the wind and raindrops and  
She missed her mum and dad _

_As growing plants need soil and rain  
And cows need grass and hay  
So needs small girls to see the sun  
'cause otherwise they may  
Grow bored and shy and gray and quiet  
And then they'll fade away _

_The goblin king was at a loss  
His songbird sang no more  
It broke his goblin heart to see  
Her longing by the door  
"I'll take her out, just for a while  
Then she'll sing like before" _

_Oh, what a joy for Luna Love  
At last to smell the smell  
Of flowers, grass and nightly breeze  
And see the moon so swell  
She laughed and sang, all happiness  
And all the night as well _

_The goblin king sat in the grass  
He listened as in stun  
To Luna's song as she flew to  
And fro in laugh and fun  
But as he listened, hours passed  
And lo! There was the sun _

_The sun so warm and friendly smiled  
As it on Luna shone  
The sun smiled at the goblin king  
And he was turned to stone  
The world went quiet and Luna found  
That she was all alone _

_The world spread wide and far, as far  
As ever she would know  
Luna Love could travel  
Everywhere she wanted to  
So tell me know, where did the girl  
Choose in the end to go? _

Luna's dad silenced and smiled at his little girl who was laying her bed, snugly curling up in a ball around the pillow. She looked like she was sleeping, but when the story silenced she opened one of her bright, blue eyes and looked up at him.

"Why did you stop, dad?" she sleepily asked. Her dad bent forward and touched her cheek with a fond expression.

"Now it is your turn, Snookums. The girl can go everywhere she wants to, so you have to decide where it will be." Luna opened her other eye and blinked a few times as she thought it over.

"Can she really go everywhere she wants to?" she asked. Her dad nodded.

"Can she go to see the fairies court? Or all the way to the Crumple Horned Snorkacks? Or even to the ice-cream shop at the village? Could I go there, dad?" she gave him an inquisitive look, and he nodded again.

"Anywhere you want, my love," he repeated. Luna raised her head slightly from the pillow and frowned in thought, thinking over all the possibilities that had opened. Then she caught her father's eyes.

"You know, dad, I really would like to go to all these places, but I think that since I had been away for so long, and since I missed you and mum so very much, what I _really_ would like to do would be to return home again as soon as I could." Her dad laughed and bent forward to plant a kiss on her forehead.

"I'm so very glad you chose to come back, Luna Love. Your mum and I were very worried about you when you sat down there with the goblins, you know."

"But they did like my songs," Luna pointed out in defence of her kidnappers. "And the king was quite nice, really. He let me out, after all."

"Well, yes, he did," her dad admitted. "But he was the one who locked you up in the first place, remember?"

"Mmmmm..." Luna yawned, apparently with something on her mind. "Dad, how do you make a chair of bone? Most bones are a bit bendy, so it would be a quite rickety chair, don't you think? And what use would you have for the ribs? I wonder..."

"The goblins aren't very good at making chairs," her dad hurriedly said, "and they didn't have any wood down there in the caves. That's why the cage was of gold as well. They have plenty of gold, but that can't be used for very much. Now, go to sleep, and I will tell you the rest of the story."

At first, Luna looked like she set to keep exploring the drawbacks with goblin furnituring, but the prospect of a prolonged story, as well as the fact that she was really sleepy now, persuaded her to save that line of thought until another day. Obediently, she put her head on the pillow and closed her eyes. Her dad was silent a few moments more, scratching his head as he put the rhymes together, then he went on.

_Away she ran, as fast's she could  
By summer fields in bloom  
Through grooves were fairies sing and dance  
Through woods were snorkacks roam  
And then she saw in forest's edge  
That she had reached her home _

_Her mum and dad were very glad  
That Luna had returned  
They hugged and kissed her many times  
Relieved and quite concerned  
Then sat they all day long and talked  
Of all that she had learned _

_The raindrops fell on Luna's house  
But she was warm and snug  
She sat between her mum and dad  
Upon the kitchen rug  
"I'm glad that I am home," she said  
And gave her mum a hug _

He paused a moment and regarded his daughter with a warm expression. Her eyes were closed, and she breathed silently. Luna's dad sighed contently and leaned back in his chair. When he continued with his story, he was talking more silently, more to himself than to the sleeping girl in the bed before him.

_But now I see, my little love  
That you're asleep at last  
And travel in your dreams in realms  
So very wide and vast  
All stories will be there for you  
From future and from past _

_One day, my Snookums, you will go  
Out in the world for real  
You'll see the most marvellous sights  
And smell, and hear, and feel  
You'll ask and answer, love, be loved  
And you will hurt and heal _

_We'll miss you Luna Love, but we'll  
Be proud, your mum and me  
We know that you will travel far  
And do a lot, and see  
But still you're our little girl  
As you will always be _

With that last line, Luna's dad silently rose to his feat and bent forward to kiss his little girl good night. Luna never heard him leave the room, nor did she notice her mum sneak in a little while later to give her a kiss of her own. Luna was already deep in dreams about snorkacks, goblin kings and a world filled of marvels and wonders, only waiting for her to explore it.

* * *

_Authors Note: Michelle-31a has let us know that Luna's father is fond of the nickname 'Snookums'. Magentabear tells us about the name 'Luna Love', and why she isn't called that anymore._


End file.
